A
alanglloyd@aol.com
You're getting somewhere, _but_ its a sorry tale for what should be
simple. I'm not sure I'm a real expert but I would like to make a few
comments ...
1 I've never (well not since MS-DOS days) used Cable Select (CS)
jumper settings on a disk. AIUI it relies on a twist at some point in
a cable so that two pins are reversed for the further (and non-master)
disk. I've always used Master and Slave. I don't believe modern cables
have this twist (and in SATA they wouldn't) but nowadays it may be
that some other mechanism is used. But that makes me worry - I'd
rather say "This Disk is Master" & "This Disk is Slave" and be
definite.
2 When you have a new disk it must always, for any disk, be formatted.
If its a big disk or for other reasons one may partition it prior to
formatting. For an OS to be booted, the booting disk must also have a
"Master Boot Record" (at the first sector on the disk) which tells the
motherboard where to go on the disk to find booting instructions. It
is often put on a disk by a "/MBR" option on a Format program. The
master boot record jump execution to the OS may be hooked to show a
menu of different OS options.
3 If you're replacing a Dell main disk, note that Dell put a few odd
partitions on a disk. I believe these are used for system restoration
and other utility functions. AFAIK these odd partitions are not
essential to basic functionality. Of course if you use a proper
"ghosting" program they would also be replicated (as would everything
else including the MBR).
Alan Lloyd
simple. I'm not sure I'm a real expert but I would like to make a few
comments ...
1 I've never (well not since MS-DOS days) used Cable Select (CS)
jumper settings on a disk. AIUI it relies on a twist at some point in
a cable so that two pins are reversed for the further (and non-master)
disk. I've always used Master and Slave. I don't believe modern cables
have this twist (and in SATA they wouldn't) but nowadays it may be
that some other mechanism is used. But that makes me worry - I'd
rather say "This Disk is Master" & "This Disk is Slave" and be
definite.
2 When you have a new disk it must always, for any disk, be formatted.
If its a big disk or for other reasons one may partition it prior to
formatting. For an OS to be booted, the booting disk must also have a
"Master Boot Record" (at the first sector on the disk) which tells the
motherboard where to go on the disk to find booting instructions. It
is often put on a disk by a "/MBR" option on a Format program. The
master boot record jump execution to the OS may be hooked to show a
menu of different OS options.
3 If you're replacing a Dell main disk, note that Dell put a few odd
partitions on a disk. I believe these are used for system restoration
and other utility functions. AFAIK these odd partitions are not
essential to basic functionality. Of course if you use a proper
"ghosting" program they would also be replicated (as would everything
else including the MBR).
Alan Lloyd